The Silent Shadow: A Hetalia Fanfiction
by The Lynne-chan
Summary: Meet Earth. He is a smart boy who looks like he is on the verge of eighteen and he's a megane-kun to boot. Of course looks can be misleading. Meet Eartha, she is actually Earth but she disguises herself as a boy to protect herself from the crazy countries she has to serve. As the guardian of the world it's her job to assist the strongest country of the time. Follow her zany story.
1. Part One: Ruin

With a burst of bright light it began,

Pulling her into existence,

One of extraordinary difference,

With a beautiful destiny written in the stars,

.

She took flight on the wings of the world,

As its protector, guardian and keeper,

And she danced among its ether,

With all the strength and power of the lands,

.

Yet it was her destiny to fall,

Tumbling, spiralling, she hit the ground,

Lost in ways that she had never found,

She lost parts of herself that she never gained back,

.

Dangerous and deadly, like disease,

They were, and they wished to destroy her,

And she had fallen to their lure,

But with all she had she fought against,

.

The wicked ways of the world,

Sacrificing some of her great power,

She broke down the walls of the tower,

And sucked them in to her prison,

.

Left abandoned and alone she was in ruin,

Lost yet gained, crumbling yet fixed,

Power and more power never mixed,

She donned her disguise of ruination,

.

Yet she remained queen of the Earth,

But she still was a silhouette,

Of her once flawless and perfect,

Innocent and free self, she was now tainted,

With the blood of destruction and creation,

And when opposites collide the only thing left is:

.

Ruin.


	2. Prologue: The Shadow is Born

**Hello my pretties! This has been a long time coming, my Hetalia fanfiction!（ｖ＾＿＾）ｖYou don't know how excited I am! Kesesesese! I am zhe awesome author und velcome to my fanfiction! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I hope you do enjoy my fanfiction and my OC! Comment and vote or don't...I hope you choose the first option but hey I cannot stop you or judge you for that matter! Ok enough of my ranting! Fangirling, away! *flies away on a rainbow* (∩｀-´)⊃━ ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Hetalia characters or the Hetalia name but I do own my OC so no touchies!**

**Read on my fellow fans! ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)**

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The darkness around her ebbed and flowed with corporeal form; like something so close to bridging the gap of existence but falling short by the slightest of measures. _Why was she here again_, she wondered to herself in the silent darkness. The dark mist seemed to cling to her; wrapping around her frail body. The freezing temperature seemed to be elevated by the darkness floating around her and she shivered wishing for something large and warm to wrap herself up in. Her lazy eyes wished to snap back into the peaceful slumber they had originally been experiencing but something made her alert. Maybe it was the prospect of something happening or her deep desire for something to happen but whatever it was kept her from falling back into her quiet hibernation.

She hugged her tiny body close, feeling her arms, her legs, her nose, her mouth, and her eyes; making sure it was all there. Her long hair, wavy and coarse, wrapped around her small naked frame. She shifted a little in the suspended space she occupied feeling no shame to her nudity, it was dark and no one could see her; plus, it was the only way she had ever been. All she knew was this darkness and the voices; the voices that told her that a future for her was coming.

She would hear them, whispering to her when she was awake; their soft silken voices murmuring promises, the only noise that filled her pitiless void. She gripped onto their words like they were her only lifeline and in truth they were. She knew no other being other than herself and the disembodied voices. When she had first been woken by them, she had been frightened wondering what sort of monster would make such a noise but after the surprise gave way she started to marvel at the sound they made; wishing they would liven up her dark space with their sounds.

Silently, under the cloak of this wretched darkness, she would murmur their sounds. At first the only noise she could make were mewls and yelps, discombobulated noises, but soon she was able to copy their sounds; saying their words over and over until they were ingrained into her young head. She wondered why they did not speak now. She longed to hear what they had to say because each time they spoke she would hear new sounds; ones she would add to her collection.

"Your time will come child." she whispered to herself copying their words with practiced precision. "The light will soon reach you and you will be truly born."

With a small ounce of childish hope, she waited hoping the voices would hear her murmurings and speak up but the minutes ticked by and no sounds could be heard. Her resolve was weakening and her eyes were slowly drifting closed; she was giving in to her wish to slumber. As her little eyes drifted towards closing a bright light sparked into her vision. Her closing eyes blasted open to have a glance at this new phenomenon that was hurling itself ever closer to her. It started as a little pinprick but soon blossomed into a large explosive glow, basking her in light. She marveled as it kissed her pale skin revealing her body before her eyes.

She twisted as she remained suspended in space; trying to catch a view of herself in the blinding whiteness. The warmth that the light emitted washed away her chill and filled her with a gentle heat that spread from her chest to her limbs. She watched on, dazzled, as she saw her fingers wiggle and legs kick. Her hair bounced in her face and she watched the brown mass of tickling strands dance around as she did. With a loud booming sound a new voice spoke. It shocked her out of her moments of exploration and she felt like cowering away in fear; unlike the other voices that made her feel warm and secure.

"You are ready child, live!" the loud voice boomed filling the now white void with sound.

Her fear was washed away instantly and it was replaced with joy. She was finally going to leave this void! She was going to be truly born just like the voices had said! With a jolt she was falling. She let out a scream not knowing this feeling she was having. She felt as if her whole stomach was coming up her throat as the invisible ropes suspending her were cut in half. She fell through the white void; her hair falling out behind her in a banner of harsh brown as its wavy strands interwove with each other.

Her fear subsided after moments of falling and instead she watched as the whiteness faded into black once again but this time large pricks of light exploded around her, lighting up this new dark void. Originally, she saw them as small but as she moved closer to the light they expanded in their size and she gasped at the enormity of one. They were masses of some sort of energy that she could not explain but she was just thrilled by the idea of something real, something that had substance existed other than her. After free falling amongst the grand lights, she slowly came closer to something smaller but denser. Instead of being all white, this thing was colored in hues of blues and greens with swirls of beautiful white fluff covering the surface. She could only gasp; there were no words to describe this.

It was so beautiful and so serene and it thrilled her as she noticed her course seemed to be plotted for this exact object. As it grew closer it grew larger and larger, making her worry if it would be safe to land on it at this quick speed. Her worries dissolved as she passed through the while fluff that covered the outer most surface. She was still and silent as she made out all of the glittering things that covered the shell of this object. Large beings moved upon the ground and things grew from the ground; reaching towards the heavens. A large mass of some swirling blue stuff covered most of the plane of this object; glittering in the bright light behind her. It was gorgeous.

The large solid masses of land came closer and closer making her shriek with fright. At the supposed time of her probable death, she was gently pulled upwards as if by a string and plopped to the ground unharmed. Her brown scraggily hair twisting up in her limbs and laying tangled over her tiny body. She was near the edge of some blue stuff and she watched it come crashing to the shore with great zeal. It took no time slamming into the rocks in front of her and it pulled back with slow patience. As it crashed, she felt the droplets of something tickling her nose and face. _It's called water, _her mind whispered to her, as if answering her silent question; _and this stuff you are sitting on is called grass. _As she stared at all the things that surrounded her, her mind began calling forth names for each and every thing as if the names for them were always in her mind to begin with. She stopped her frenzied naming when over the sounds of the roaring water she was able to hear the loud mewls and cries of a being like her.

With a start she was on her feet searching for the being making the noise hoping to find someone, anyone, who was willing to be her companion. She skirted the shoreline moving towards the noise and tucked gently beside a rock was a swaddled child. It was crying loudly now and the girl put her hands over her ears to try to block out the annoying sound. _Ugh, were beings like her always this noisy when they were this young,_ she asked herself.

A gust of wind sent her wild and unnaturally long hair askance as it traveled down the shoreline and she closed her eyes against the gritty sand that danced along with the wind. When she had opened her eyes, she found herself dressed in a white dress and her wild hair looked sleek and shiny as if it was combed to perfection in an instant. The child at her feet instantly stopped crying, falling silent, as its bright green eyes looked up at her with wonder and curiosity that matched her own.

"Welcome, our child, to the Earth." a voice murmured, carried by the wind.

She jumped at the sound of coherent noise but soon broke into a smile knowing the voices were back. She had been longing to hear them once again and she looked around hoping to find the source of the sound but all she could see was the vast tree line spreading out to her left and the pounding sea to her right.

"You have been born to watch over this land." the voices continued in their hushed murmurs. "You are to guard this land, Eartha, daughter of the world."

"But what am I to do!?" she shouted into the wind, putting her thoughts to words.

"See the child at your feet; he is the first country of the world. Watch him, raise him and let him grow prosperous." the voices replied quietly. "Humans will come, they will rule the land but you are the true owner of the Earth."

"What do you mean?" she cried her small voice harsh from not being used. "I don't understand what you mean! What are humans?"

"The strongest country on the Earth is your muse, our daughter. You must take care of only the strongest one and assist him or her on their journey, whatever that may be." the voices continued sliding over her questions.

"You did not answer my thoughts!" she yelled louder this time.

"The animals which roam this land will answer to only you, our daughter. As you grow, your strength shall grow too but you will never die unless the planet is destroyed." the voices bellowed louder than their usually quiet whispers. "The sky, sea and ground all bow to you and the weather is yours to control our child! Do not misuse your gifts or squander your abilities because the people and countries will suffer if you do. We shall give you strength from afar, so never loose heart our child, we are always here."

"Please!" she screamed. "Answer me! What does all of this mean! Is my reason to exist to serve others of this land!?"

When the voices did not reply, she shouted in frustration but all that managed to do was disturb the quiet child who started crying again. She came to him quickly scooping him up into her small arms and hushing him with her words. She rocked the child back and forth until his green eyes closed and he fell into a peaceful sleep, all the while she was mumbling a soothing lullaby of her own creation. She stood facing the surf, watching it crash into the rocks madly, the wind blowing her hair around her like a cloak of honey brown. _Humans, countries and the Earth, what did that all mean_, she wondered as she peered down at the sleeping child. A small tuft of black hair rested on his head and his skin was olive brown and smooth; she felt a pull of maternal attachment to him. She would watch him grow and take care of him; there was no doubt about that.

"Eartha." she said aloud, savoring the sound on her lips.

_She had a name now and a friend_, she thought looking down at the peaceful child,_ humans, whatever they were, will be coming and maybe they will be friends too._ She looked up at the glowing sun that glared down on her and turned towards the treeline, taking the first steps towards her destiny.

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**So the first chapter, eh? Did ya like it? If you did let me know, pretty please? **八(＾□＾*) **Either way the next chapter is on the way so don't you worry child! And the next one is longer! Yay more work for me! **੭•̀ω•́)੭̸*✩⁺˚


	3. Chapter 1: Eartha Alder, the Shadow

Eartha massaged her pounding head as she made her way through the busy streets. She could feel the sharp bite of a headache slowly starting to chew its way into her frontal lobe. When she passed an abandoned coffee shop window she paused to catch a glimpse of herself in the large piece of glass. By now she was used to seeing herself with her unneeded glasses; short half slicked back hair and wearing a man's military uniform.

She cocked her head to one side and examined herself thoroughly, making sure she looked manly enough; not wanting anyone to see through her disguise. For once she found her military uniform looked rather flattening on her. The dull greenish brown accented by the black collar and cuffs brought out the best in her blue and green eyes. Being heterochromic had its draw backs when it came to choosing your wardrobe but of course _she _did not have the luxury of choosing her own wardrobe.

Oh no, the country she assisted got that special privilege! Most times they just threw her in whatever was "big" in military fashion at the time. While under Prussia it had been those gaudy frock coats and hats that she had dubbed "pirate" style. Under England it had been those blood crimson uniforms that killed any chance at stealth and chafed like hell. She nodded her approval at her uniform choice thanking the heavens that military fashion had evolved to the state it was now.

The country she assisted may have it good with military fashion but he certainly needed some help in the humanity department. He worked her like a rented mule forcing her to come up with strategy after strategy and file record after record. She had not received a good night's sleep in ages but she did not complain about the bitter headaches or sleep depravity, no she took it like the man she was supposed to be.

With a start she remembered the time and turned, breaking into a run she hurried to the meeting building. She reached the grand building in record time, only pausing to look up at the watercolor grey sky once before entering the oversized structure. Breezing past the guards, she walked through the magnificent glass doors at a break neck speed hoping not to incur the wrath of her boss country by being a few minutes late. As she pushed open the heavy oak doors to the meeting room she was greeted to the sound of his voice.

"….und zhen ve can attack from zhis direction here." he said as she was entering.

The room was packed full of military leaders of all different sorts and her boss country was the front of the room explaining war strategies she had come up with the day before. Standing at the back, she swelled with pride as the officers showed their approval of the battle plans. Of course they were not hers in this setting; in this setting they were his, Germany's.

She let out a small sigh and adjusted her glasses taking a seat beside a balding officer in the back row who was watching Germany talk with rapt attention. Gilbert stood beside his brother trying to look, well, awesome. He noticed Eartha's arrival and was sending her a not so covert grin that caused many officers to look in her direction. She crushed the blush that threatened to rise to her cheeks and sent Gilbert an annoyed snarl. She called Prussia by his real name because the country of Prussia had been slowly dissolving in the past years; plus, she received satisfaction from his annoyance when she referred to him as Gilbert.

You see, Gilbert knew of her secret she kept so close; yes, he knew she was a girl. While serving under him when he was the strongest country, she had accidently shifted into her Mother Earth form while caring for a little Germany. From then on he had harassed her mercilessly but never once had uttered her secret to anyone, even his own brother. Of course she had helped him raise little Germany but Germany himself remembered nothing about her true identity, to her great luck!

She snapped back to the real world when she felt the tug of eyes on hers. Germany was looking intensely into her eyes with the hint of a scowl on his face as he addressed his audience. There was a threat hiding there and she knew she was in trouble once again for being only the slightest bit late. _Ugh, _she thought breaking eye contact to count the cracks in the ceiling, _what will be my punishment this time? Running laps, doing one hundred push ups or better yet both!?_

She stared up at the ceiling pondering her impending doom until Germany's voice died down and she knew he was saying his final words. She had to give credit to Germany, he could make any parting of ways seem like you had been friends all your life. As the balding officer to her left leapt up to give Germany his condolences at a job well done, Gilbert slid casually into his vacated spot with ease.

"So vhy vere you late?" he asked in his old German drawl, dragging out each word as if it was a stick used to prod her.

"Oh you know the usual, saving lives, stopping conflicts and bringing down the hammer of justice." she replied her eyes still remaining firmly on the ceiling.

Gilbert just chuckled at the well-used joke and shook his head. He knew exactly her meaning when she made that statement; in other words she overslept.

"Vell either vay, you are in for it zhis time." he stated bluntly.

"Why?" she asked peeling her gaze off the mahogany roof to look over at Gilbert. "I was only two minutes late?"

"Ja, but you vhere supposed to be here fifteen minutes early." Gilbert replied looking at her with a slant to his head." To help vith set up und stuff."

Her mouth formed an "O" as she recalled her previous conversation with Germany the night before. As she had been leaving his house she had been so exhausted that his parting words had barely registered with her. All she had been worrying about was the amount of war strategies she had to come up with in the next month.

"Bolluks," she said letting the curses fly as she hit herself in the head with her fists. "I am such a dumkopf!"

She let another string of punitive curses in other languages spew from her mouth and when she was thoroughly done cursing herself silly did Gilbert re-approach conversation with her.

"Zhat is probably not going to help much but feel free to hit yourself some more, I am not going to stop you." he commented dryly.

Eartha just rolled her eyes at the albino country and let out a sigh of exasperation; Germany was going to eat her alive she was sure of it. As the last military officer vacated the room she gripped the sides of her small rickety chair waiting for the tongue lashing to come.

"Zhere you are." Germany's voice boomed over the sounds of his boots marching on the wooden floor. "Vhere vere you!?"

Eartha jumped up from her seat to look her boss country in the eyes. She snapped into a well-practiced salute and announced the reason for her tardiness.

"I am sorry sir." she stated. "I overslept due to the late night I had to pull to finish off those battle plans you wanted."

She looked Germany straight in the eyes as she said this and she could see some of the anger behind his gaze deflate.

"Vell I guess I can understand zhat," Germany said with a sigh as he raked his left hand through his blond hair. "But zhat does not excuse your lateness."

She dropped his gaze and her eyes fell to her shiny black books; her face reddening in shame.

"I am assuming it is particularly my fault zhat you are late because I kept you at Mein home too late discussing var plans so I vill not punish you." Germany stated with a harsh tone.

Eartha's eyes fluttered upwards with shock and joy. Gilbert, who had been examining the room with bored intent, had his eyes on his brother so fast that his neck almost snapped. _No punishment, _the thought excitedly, _this may turn out to be a good day after all!_

"But to make sure zhis does not happen again I am going to ask you to move in vith Gilbert und me." Germany ordered.

Her soaring heart was shot out of the sky like a one winged duck. A small chibi her was screaming: "my life is ending, my life is ending" over and over in her head like some sort of demented warning siren.

"Excuse me, what?" she asked bluntly, her expression one of someone who had all the light sucked out of their world.

"Zhen you und I can discuss var plans as late as ve need und you do not have to vorry about valking home to your flat afterwards und drawing up said plans before you have to go to sleep." Germany explained to her as if she was stupid. "It is a time saver you see."

Oh she saw his point, she had to admit the logic was truly there but she could not get over the fact he was practically forcing her to stay with him and his brother. If this idea became a reality it would be much too tricky to hide her identity. She glanced over at Gilbert for support but she found him shaking with silent laughter in his chair; her reaction must have been comical enough to amuse the annoying country. She sent an icy glare in his direction as a way to let him know she would pay him back for this later. She returned her attention to Germany.

"Are you sure you can fit me in your home?" she asked politely. "I mean Mister Austria is there right now so you are probably pretty packed full as it is."

She watched him hopefully but when he waved her complaint away with his hand her whole body went ice cold. All hope had been lost and the little chibi in her head flopped to the ground dead, its eyes large spirals of defeat.

"Do not vorry about zhat. Mein home is large enough to hold a vhole army." Germany replied with a shake of his head. "I vill release you now so you can go pack your belongings, Mein bruder shall help you."

Germany cast a dark glare at his still laughing brother as he swept out of the room; probably leaving to go to yet another meeting. Eartha deflated and collapsed into the chair she had been occupying earlier. The room was quiet albeit Gilbert's muffled snickers and with no regret at all she punched the laughing country in the shoulder.

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**Yay the second chapter or first chapter (depending how you look at it) is finito! **(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o))) **Now that I look at it, it is pretty much the same length as the prologue and in word count it is shorter (lol). **ƪ(‾ε‾")ʃ **Well whatever! I hope I pegged the character types ok...let me know if I did anything wrong! **


	4. Chapter 2: Moving

Eartha put her hands behind her head as she made her way down the busy streets with Gilbert in tow. He was lagging behind like usual watching people as they passed. His stupid annoying bird, Gilbird, was chirping his head off and Eartha found herself very close to wrapping balling twine around the little yellow bird's beak. Since she was able to understand animals, she was able to hear everything the little yellow bird was saying.

_"Master is awesome! Bow to master humans! Master, master, master, master!" _ Eartha heard the little bird saying.

By the fifth time the bird repeated that statement Eartha could no longer handle it. She whirled around to face a meandering Prussia and the bird in question. Her face must have been a storm of rage because upon seeing her Prussia's footsteps faltered.

"For crying out loud, your master is not _that_ awesome! He is not even supposed to exist anymore so will you _please_ shut up!" she screamed at the little bird.

Gilbird shut up in an instant, its little black eyes watching her with shock. She knew the little bird understood she was talking to him and in a fit of rage she turned on her heel, marching through the waves of pedestrians. Many people had paused to look at her but one glare in their direction sent them scurrying about their business. She broke into a dash and she could hear Gilbert calling her name behind her, she knew he would follow but right now she needed a moment alone.

The headache that had been plaguing her earlier was now destroying her frazzled brain. _Something was wrong; _she thought to herself, _the Earth is suffering. _Rounding a corner, she collapsed against the wall gripping the stone bricks that pressed into her side. A wave of nausea rolled across her body as she fell to her knees; her legs hitting the concrete with an almighty smack. The world around her faded out of view instantly and she knew exactly what was going on; something that would affect the Earth was happening.

Her eyes fluttered as her mind took her to another place. In an instant she was on another battlefield and she was watching the Chinese soldiers and citizens get attacked by Japanese troops. She regarded the scene bleakly but as people and soldiers fell it felt as if someone was punching her in the stomach. _Damn it, _she thought to herself gritting her teeth against the pain, _how I hate wars._ Soon the fighting slowly died down and she felt herself returning to her body, the nausea and pain slowly dissipating.

"-rth?! Earth answer me dammit!" someone yelled in her ear as they shook her.

"Urgh." she moaned trying to stand up then failing.

"What zhe hell is vrong vith you?!" Gilbert was frantically screaming in her ear.

"Nothing." she replied snappily trying to twist out of his grip.

She did not like receiving pity from others, it made her feel weak. Gilbert just gripped her shoulder harder at her futile attempts to move away from him. One small glance in his direction caused her ill placed anger to falter. Instead of looking at her with pity he was looking at her with worry that creased his red eyes.

"Seriously, you don't look too good." he stated bluntly.

She knew how she probably looked; pale, shaky and frantic. Once she looked at herself in the mirror when this annoying pain ripped into her, it was not a pretty sight. The pounding headache became dull noise and the after effects of the nausea were slowly fading. She was still shaking as she stood up with a small bit of help on Gilbert's end. She felt Gilbird land in her hair and he peeped softly. She did not need to have the ability to speak of animals to understand what he was trying to say.

_"I am sorry." _the little bird cooed.

Despite her situation, she broke into a smile. With a little bit of effort she was able to stand on her own and she looked down at the bit of brick she had been gripping. She snickered when she noticed she had gripped the brick hard enough to break it. _Sometimes I don't know the extent of my own power, _she mused to herself mentally. Her mind was snapped back to reality when Gilbert shot a question in her direction.

"Vhat vas zhat all about?" he asked, raking a hand through his now Gilbird-less hair.

She waved his question away with her hand trying to act as nonchalant as she could but Gilbert just grabbed her hand and forced it down by her side.

"Don't give me zhat I-am-all-okay act." he shot at her angrily. "I know vhen someone is suffering due to a blow to zhere country."

Gilbert was watching her with intensity blazing behind his fire red eyes. _Well there goes that idea, _she thought to herself dejectedly. She preferred not to mention the problems she suffered and kept all of her suffering due to world events hidden away. She never ever broke down in front of anyone and this was a first for her. Wars in the past had usually some sort of coherent rhythm to them and she would be able to predict when she would be out of commission but this one caught her off guard. This new era of fighting seemed to confuse the Earth itself.

She glanced at the Prussian to find him still watching her with wary attentiveness. Gilbird was flittering around in her hair but she ignored the little bird for now. She needed to say something to placate Gilbert but she did not want to admit to the fact she was suffering due to the war. She knew he'd probably just freak out at Germany and try to convince him to not invade Poland in the next few days. She sighed out loud; she guessed she would just have to tell the truth.

"Yes, I was suffering due to the war." she hissed through gritted teeth.

Gilbert opened his mouth to say something but she just cut him right off.

"But it's okay. Nothing I cannot handle, I've been doing this for years." she said, holding up a hand to stop the tirade she knew was coming.

A silence descended between the two of them on the empty street corner. Finally, an angry Gilbert sighed.

"Fine, vhatever, do vhat you vish but do not push yourself to hard und especially do not do push yourself for Mein bruder's sake." he ordered with a snap, reminding her instantly of the traits he and Germany shared as brothers.

"Oh do not worry, I will not push myself." she said letting an awkward smile grace her lips.

"Goot." Gilbert grunted looking down the street.

"Okay," she said, becoming chipper once again "let's get to my apartment to pack."

With that said, she waltzed down the street heading towards her apartment block whistling a cheery tune the whole way. Gilbird whistled along copying her noises and Gilbert followed along behind her shaking his head with exasperation.

"You are one funny girl." he stated.

She whirled around and covered his mouth with her hands, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Do. Not. Dare. Mention. I. Am. A. Girl." she ordered threateningly.

She glanced down the streets and relaxed noticing that no one was walking in this section of the city in mid-afternoon. Most of the street was made up by towering red bricked apartments so many of the residents were at work or busy eating lunch. She let out a sigh of relief and returned her attention to the country whose mouth she was covering. Gilbert's red eyes were alight with mockery when she turned to look at him and just as she was about to remove her hand away she felt something wet touch her palm. It took her a moment to realize that Gilbert had just licked her hand!

"Aw that is so gross!" she shrieked pulling her hand away instantly.

As she vigorously wiped her hand on her uniform, Gilbird launched off her head and returned to his perch in his master's hair. She shot curses at a now laughing Gilbert but soon gave up on her curses noticing she wasn't getting anywhere with him. With an angry snort, she turned and launched herself away from the albino and started making her way towards her apartment block. When an arm came over her head and held her from walking away, she stumbled to a hasty stop. Gilbert had pulled her back and now she was smashed against him; she could feel his breath on her neck.

"Let me go Gilbert!" she cried as she tried to twist out of the albino's grip.

Gilbert just laughed at her pathetic attempts and Gilbird joined in on his merriment.

"This isn't funny!" she exclaimed trying to pull away. "Seriously Gil, let me go so I can get packing. If we don't get started soon Germany will start to wonder where we are."

She cursed herself mentally for letting the nickname she had used for Gilbert slip. When she had been his assistant she had referred to him as Gil when they became more acquainted with each other. Now looking back on it, the nickname seemed stupid to her but at the time her young self had thought that the nickname was a brilliant idea. _Stupid childhood innocence_, her brain muttered.

"Oh come on." Gilbert whispered in her ear. "Admit it you are enjoying zhis."

_Okay that was the final straw_, her mind screamed. With no remorse, she crushed the Prussian's foot under her military boot and listened to him squeal in pain. When the arm was removed she stomped down the street towards her apartment block all the while mumbling her intense hatred for the idiotic country. As she passed a mirror upon entering the main floor lobby of her apartment, she scoffed with distaste to find her face bright red and her once perfect hair all messed up because of Prussia's antics.

She hurriedly fixed her hair, sweeping it back into the perfect slick back it had been before Gilbert got to it. With that done she glided down the hallway and up the old worn stairs to the apartment she had been renting. Upon entering she scooped up the phone and gave her land lord a call letting him know she had to cancel their contract because she had to move out. The elderly man was a little miffed she did not let him know sooner but she promised to pay for the six month's rent she had been slated to pay; that perked him up a bit.

She was just placing the phone back down when Gilbert came through the unlocked door. While he was busy looking around the room, Eartha pulled out an old luggage bag and start shoving it full of clothes. Luckily, she had been renting a room in which all the furniture had been provided for her so picking up and leaving was an easy feat.

Slam!

She looked up to find Gilbert fuming while looking over at her. The loud slam had been his fists coming down on the beat up oak desk to her left and she cocked her head to one side confused at his anger.

"Is zhis zhe sort of dump you usually live in?" he asked angrily.

She rolled her eyes at him and continued stuffing her luggage full of clothes. He overreacted _way_ too much these days.

"It is not a big deal. I could've rented something better but this was what I chose so please don't insult it." she said throwing a glare in his direction. "Now could you pass me the other suitcase, I filled this one."

Prussia's anger seemed to deflate as he handed her the other suitcase that was propped up beside the aging desk. In truth, Eartha could not really afford anything better. She may be the guardian of the world but that did not mean she was made of money and over the years she had never been able to get herself a proper paying job so she had been living off past saved funds for ages. Now her fund pool was running a little low. As she finished packing the last of her clothes and belongings, Prussia flopped onto the bed while Gilbird circled his head angrily; his perch has just moved rather violently.

"I am tired." Gilbert stated staring at the roof.

"Well that is not my problem." she said hitting his knee with her hand as she stood up. "Now come on, we should be going."

"Fine." the Prussian groaned standing up.

He did not offer to help her as she pulled the heavy suitcases down the stairs and she sent daggers at his strutting back. To make matters worse, he start humming a tune off key in which Gilbird took to creating double the off key singing. _She would kill that Prussian someday_, she thought with a shake of her head as they made their way towards Germany's home.

* * *

_He watched them make their way down the street, his eyes wary. Did he hear that right? What Prussia had mentioned earlier, that Earth was a girl? That could change a lot of things. But that couldn't be true, could it? If it was true, then why wasn't Prussia treating her like a lady if he obviously knew she was one? No, that could not be true; it just did not make sense. But then again, Earth's reaction to things were always a bit off and just a little bit different._

_He let a hand run through his hair, his eyes following them as they marched down the street. It was not true! It could not be true; he was just hearing things, right? He brushed away the thought from his mind creating excuse for each of Earth's short comings as a man. He was young, he thought to himself, that is why he wasn't as strong and looked more feminine. Yes that was it! He was more worried about the sickness Earth had shown earlier than what gender he was. Yes that was right, think about that not about the other thing._

_He shook his head as he left them continue their march. This was all so confusing; he needed to go for a walk somewhere else. Somewhere he would not run into them. There was enough pressure mounting and he did not need more oddly placed secrets fluttering about in the back of his mind. Either way he had time to kill, he was just a little bit too early for an important meeting so without looking back he turned and left that odd thought behind._

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**Okay! The third chapter is finished! **((┌|o^▽^o|┘)) **I hope you guys enjoy it! Again, please let me know if any character types are off! And comment or vote if you enjoy this, pretty please? **(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧**I don't know if you like it unless you tell me! Anyways off to writing the next chapter! AWAY! **~=[,,_,,]:3


	5. Chapter 3: Mister Germany's House

After a long while of walking, Eartha's journey seemed to come to an end. Prussia led her up the stairs of the huge castle like mansion that he and Germany called home. Eartha now just shrugged off the large house's glamor but when she had first seen it she had to stop herself from gawking; now it was just old news. She pulled her luggage up the stairs with no help from anyone. Prussia threw open the doors of the grand house and shouted rather loudly he was home then promptly bounded up the stairs screaming his brother's name in a sing song voice.

Eartha let out a huff when she realized that she would be getting absolutely no help from him. Not exactly knowing where she was going, she lugged her luggage up the stairs and made her way towards the only room she really knew, Germany's. His room was right off the rather large study she had been in before when the two of them had collaborated on the battle planning. Her suitcases made clunking noises as she pulled them up and over each stair and she found herself even more tired after each step. When she was about to make a step onto the landing, she heard a loud sound that made her head snap upwards.

_"Play!?"_

_Oh no, oh no_, she thought to herself as she slowly looked upwards. To her assumption, Eartha found herself looking up at three large dogs. A Doberman pinscher, a Great Dane and a German shepherd were all watching her with their long pink tongues lolling out of their mouths and excited sparks in their eyes. It was not that Eartha disliked dogs, oh no she found them rather amusing, it was more that fact that dogs seemed to like her a little bit too much for her liking.

_"Who are you?" _the German shepherd asked letting out a small bark.

"I am Earth, a guest!" she replied to the dog.

The German shepherd cocked its head to one side confused, the Great Dane was looking at her happily and the Doberman pinscher was a little wary. Slowly, the dogs made their way towards her and started to sniff her. She put down her luggage and knelt to the dog's eye level. She was startled when they all tackled her to the ground but let them lick her and lay down on top her. She laughed when the Great Dane start poking her cheek with his wet nose; all the while, the German shepherd lay on her stomach with his head tucked at her side. The Doberman just sniffed her continually trying to pick up on her scent.

_"You do not smell like a man." _The Doberman stated as he barked a few times.

She was about to open her mouth to reply when she heard a voice called loudly after the dogs.

"Volf, Lu and Krantz vhere are you headed?" called a German voice.

Eartha did not need to look up to know who the voice belonged too. She watched as Germany's feet came into view and let out a small sigh as she put the back of her head against the hard wooden floor. The shiny black military boots paused on the oak flooring as he realized Eartha was what had caused the dogs to go wild.

"Oh, I see vhat caused zhe ruckus." he said and then knelt down, calling the dogs over to him in rough German.

The dogs instantly fled Eartha and bounded over to their master with gleeful barking, allowing her to stand up once again and she brushed off the dog hair with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Why didn't you tell me you had dogs?" she asked fixing her glasses.

Germany looked up at her as he petted each dog in turn.

"Because I did not zhink it vas necessary zhat you knew. Zhe only times you ever came vas vhen you und I vere drawing up battle plans." he stated honestly.

She smiled down at him, marveling at the German's logic for everything. He was so very calculating and only divulged information that was predominate at the time; a man of logic through and through. As Eartha thought about it, they were rather alike in so many ways. She only revealed certain aspects of her knowledge to others and tried to look a certain way around countries but mostly she did this because if she even whispered a slight glimmer of the future she could change the course of the universe.

Eartha remembered hearing humans mention how amazing it would be to see the future and the countless novels that had been introduced over time poking at the grand space and time question. She had only watched as humans barely scratched the surface of the world around them but she never pitied them once. Most days, she wished she did not have to bear the burden of knowing when countries will fall or when others will rise, who will suffer and who will prosper and most of all she hated looking countries in the eye and telling them she was going to be their assistant. It was not so much that she hated her job but it was more to the fact she knew if she was going to be their assistant it was only a short time until they would suffer. _If you want to ride on the powerful waves you will have to not mind being smashed into the rocks,_ she thought bitterly to herself.

"Bruder! Zhere you are!" cried Gilbert.

Eartha glanced over her shoulder to see Gilbert running down one of the hallways that connected to the landing they were standing in. Gilbird was flying behind Gilbert as he blasted towards them at a break neck speed. There was something rouge about his nature prompting Eartha to believe Gilbert was up to his old tricks again; she wondered what sort of stunt he was going to pull this time.

"Vhat are you doing East?" Germany asked with a sigh as he stood up.

"I missed you bruder!" he cried with a mischievous twinkle to his eyes, as he jumped through the air and attached himself to his younger brother.

"Vhat zhe hell are you doing!" Germany cried as he tried to wrestle his brother off of him.

The dogs were now barking wildly at the sight of seeing Gilbert again or just excited by Germany's frantic attempts to pull Gilbert off of him. Eartha crushed her laughter in the palm of her hand as their antics ensued. All the noise ended up calling even the grouchy Austrian out; he marched down the hallways with full intent to yell at whoever was causing all the annoying shouting but upon seeing Germany's wild flailing and Gilbert's tight clinging he understood the true perpetrator and started hurling curses at Gilbert.

"Get off of Germany right now Prussia!" Austria yelled coming to Germany's aide while all Eartha could do was make sure she did not end up on the ground from laughter.

Prussia must have noticed her amusement because he instantly detached himself from Germany and launched himself at her, the playful glint never leaving his eyes. Her giggling came to an abrupt end as she had to dive out of the way to dodge the incoming country. As a result, Prussia ended up latching on to the stair post and this caused her to fall into another laughing fit again. This time she wasn't the only one; Germany and Austria where also trying, and failing, to conceal snickers.

"Boo, you are mean Earth." Prussia pouted from his perch on the stair post; Gilbird back in his hair.

"Hey, it is not my fault I don't want to become your personal clinging post!" she shot back at him trying to be as angry as she could with a mile wide grin on her face.

Prussia looked as if he was going to shoot some sort of insult back at her but his words were cut off by the ringing of a doorbell. She heard Germany sigh behind her and move towards the stairs, passing the still clinging Prussia. The dogs started to follow but a stern few words from Germany had the dogs retreating to his room. Prussia hopped down from his perch and Eartha and Austria pulled themselves up against the stairway to catch a glimpse as to who the new guest would be.

Germany pulled open the door to reveal a figure clad in a long jacket and scarf causing Eartha's heart to leap with joy. _Russia_, her mind asked, _was it really him?_ Jumping onto the banister she slid to the bottom, surprising both Russia and Germany alike. With lithe grace, she leapt off the banister and propelled herself straight for the Russian country; flinging her arms around his neck and shouting his name like he was her long lost friend. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as memories of the younger country flooded back.

"Oh, Russia you've grown up so much!" she cried, her voice filled with nostalgia.

"Da, I guess I have." he mumbled into her arm.

It took her a moment to realize the situation she was in now. She had just flung her arms around another male country in a very feminine way and was now sobbing over how much older Russia had become. She was doing a terrible job at acting like a man. With blush bright on her face she pulled away from Russia and inched backwards unable to meet anyone in the eye.

"I am sorry about that." she mumbled.

A large hand plopped onto her head and started ruffling her hair affectionately. She glanced up to see Russia patting her on the head with great affection. He was smiling down at her, his purple eyes hidden behind his scrunched up eyelids.

"Now you're the short one, da?" he stated.

"Hey!" she protested. "You used to only come up to my knees and would wander around aimlessly chasing after butterflies if I didn't watch you!"

"Ha, well much has changed now." he said, his smile even broader.

"Yes, I guess so." she said becoming forlorn. "I got rather busy after you grew past my waist and I was not able to see you as often because I was distracted by other events."

To her surprise Russia pulled her into a large hug.

"I don't want to see my _otets_ become so sad." he said. "We've just reunited, da? Don't make it a depressing reunion."

She smiled into his uniform, wrapping her arms around him as well.

"I would not want to make my little _podsolnechnik_ sad, either." she stated as a reply.

They both broke from their hug grinning like idiots and the moment of awkwardness from before fell away. She glanced over at Germany who had been watching the whole event with a confused expression. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she found Austria had disappeared and Prussia was looking paler than usual. He had taken the spot Eartha had vacated by the stairway railing and was now gripping the banister with white knuckled hands. Their gazes met for an instant and Eartha could almost feel the rolling waves of fear and anger that the Prussian was letting off; as his eyes connected with hers she could feel the intensity piercing nature of it.

She returned her gaze to Russia and Germany but tilted her head in thought. _Why was Prussia so scared, _she wondered to herself, _he usually flaunted his "awesomeness" to every country that he had the chance to flaunt it to so why wasn't he taking this chance with Russia? _Her mind started recalling facts from the last war and the answer was swept into her mind as fast as Atlantis had disappeared. _Right, _she thought to herself, _Russia and Prussia has some bad blood between them during the battles in the Great War. There had been some pretty bloody battles if I remember correctly. _She took another glance at the fearful country and felt a pang of pity for him; _he must be wondering why Germany has invited such a dangerous country to fight alongside them, _she mused.

"Ahem," Germany said catching both Russia and Earth's attention. "So you guys are friends or…?"

"Oh, um, yes. I was very prevalent in Russia's growth from a young country to a stronger one." she explained to Germany. "He was one of those countries I was able to spend a lot of time with so we are very close."

Germany looked over at Russia for confirmation and he nodded.

"Da, what he says is true." Russia affirmed.

Germany seemed to relax visibly. It seemed he wasn't on the greatest of terms with the Russian country and he must have been happy to know that Eartha could act as a peacemaker during their war planning. She heard Prussia snort behind her and the pressure of his eyes on her back. Now, she realized, his anger at his brother and Russia was also placed on her shoulders as well. _Great, _she thought bitterly, _just what I needed; him to have yet _another _reason to be mad at me. _She tried to ignore the daggers his eyes were throwing her way but she couldn't help but squirm under his intent glare.

Eartha's already turning sour mood was dragged down further when she pieced together the reason for Russia's arrival; the battle against Poland. Germany had been sending threats to the foolish country over the course of the past few months but they had just watched as Poland flitted about, not worrying in the slightest. _Now Germany was going to attack the Polish country on two fronts with Russia's help_, she thought sadly, _I would not want to be Poland right now._ She may not be Poland but she was certainly going to feel his pain soon; that thought did not please her in the slightest.

"Bruder," Germany called, piercing through Eartha's thoughts "Can you make some tea vhile I show our guests to zhere rooms?"

"Ja, sure bruder." he replied through gritted teeth and as Eartha passed him while climbing the stairs she heard him murmur something to do with how stupid she and Germany were for trusting such a country as Russia.

Instead of reacting, she just ignored the fuming country and kept her eyes on Germany's back in front of her. His ease to anger and over protectiveness sometimes made her want to punch something but instead she just clasped and unclasped her fists, clenching and unclenching her jaw. It took her a moment to notice that Russia was looking over at her worriedly as he carried a suitcase of his own easily up the many stairs.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, his accent thick.

"Of course, I am perfectly fine." she replied shooting him a smile of confirmation.

That seemed to be enough for the Russian as he smiled back and returned to his evaluation of Germany's house. As they entered the landing, Eartha grabbed her two suitcases off the ground and her tired arms protested at the effort required to lift the bags. Germany must have noticed her struggling, as he reached to snatch the bags from her hands and wordlessly carried them to her room. She was relieved she did not have to carry the heavy bags but she was also very frustrated by the fact that she wasn't strong enough to help. She clenched and unclenched her fists, _what was wrong with her? Why was she so weak? Was this war really taking so much out of her that she would lose so much strength?_ She put a shaky hand to her head; _this war was different than ones in the past._

The thought unnerved her. What if she could not control the dangerous power that slumbers within her? What is that malevolent black magic that could lay waste to the world was released?Her feet came to a stop and she let herself drift back as Germany and Russia continued ahead to the guest rooms. She felt herself pale and her whole body went cold. She only had ever released that power once, once by accident but once was enough for her. Never again, she had promised herself, never in a million years would she let the deadly power take control like it did before.

She leaned against the wall, her right hand flattening itself against it as she raked her left hand through her hair. _Get control of yourself Eartha, _her mind ordered furiously, _you cannot show the worry you feel. _Standing up straight, she hurried to catch up with the countries that were just rounding a corner up ahead. Falling in stride with Russia and Germany she pretended as if nothing was wrong and as it seemed neither of them noticed her disappearance. She quelled her thoughts by trying to placate herself with war strategies and reciting words from lost languages in her head. But no matter how hard she tried her mind could not help but to linger on her worries from before. If she lost control, the future that she would often catch glimpses of would be ruined and the world would be plunged into another few lost years like the ones of the not so far away past. If that power was released, her pieced together sanity would be shattered and if that happened...

….everything would be shattered.

*_otets_=father

**_podsolnechnik=_sunflower

* * *

**Yay! Another chapter done!** **~(˘****˘)~ Thank goodness for summer or else these updates would be a lot slower…. (o_ _)o Hehe, the Russian was finally introduced! ԅ(-****‿-ԅ) I don't know if you noticed but I am following the flow of historical events in WWII! I am a history nerd, I will admit, but if you noticed any inconsistency with my history please let me know! ( °****٢° ) Thanks to all who commented! You make me write faster because I know someone cares! ****ヽ(****´∇´)****ノ (****∇´ノ)**** ヽ( **** )****ノ (****ヽ´∇) ****ヽ(****´∇')****ﾉ**


	6. Chapter 4: Battle Plans and Bickering

Eartha's hands rested on the cool stone that made up the banister of the balcony she was standing on. Germany's home overlooked the elegant city of Berlin but Eartha's eyes barely passed over the beautiful metropolis, instead her mind dwelled on deeper things. The attention of her thoughts could not be removed from her impending worry over the changing nature of this war. Throughout her tea with Germany, Prussia, Austria and Russia she had been worrying over the possibility of dual self being revealed. Years ago, the voices had told her many things about herself and the extent of her abilities and one of things they had warned her about was the powers she held that were never supposed to be hers.

As the guardian of the Earth, she was given many abilities. She could give strength to younger countries, talk in languages of all the animals and inhabitants of the Earth and had memorized the whole surface of the Earth, from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the tallest mountain. But there were two abilities that rested with her that were never supposed to be given; the ability to create and destroy.

Deep inside her two dual selves existed, one a man by the name of Creation and the other a woman by the name of Destruction. She was possessed by them and they caused her no end of annoyance; it's great to be all-powerful, right? The voices never explained her reason for existence or why she was cursed as such and all they ever really told her was it was her duty to watch over the Earth. _Why is it my duty, _she thought furiously, _I have lived for billions of years, experienced terrible things and watched thousands of countries grow; maybe I would like a vacation! _She slammed her fist to the wide railing with anger but her rage soon melted away into a subdued sadness. She rested her elbows on the cool stone and propped her head up with her hands.

She was never supposed to exist. She was never supposed to be created. But the voices, whoever they were, kept her alive because apparently she was burdened with the same purpose Creation and Destruction were; to protect the world. Who knows how they managed to escape that wonderful job but all Eartha knew was that now she bore their burden and deep inside of her they slumbered, waiting for her to slip up so one of them could skillfully glide to the surface and control her fractured brain. It was the worst sort of existence and the worst sort feeling to know someone else existed inside of you just waiting to control you.

Eartha put a cool hand to her forehead. For years she had dealt with this unsavory knowledge that she was expendable, replaceable and more or less at the mercy of her dual selves. She clenched her right hand on the rocky balustrade, every now and again she would feel their presence burning strong in her mind as they tried to sway her opinion or push away her consciousness. World Wars were always the worst, most times she could handle it and she had gotten _good_ at handling it but this time around the war was slowly eating her away.

"Earth? Vhere are you?" Germany called somewhere down the hallway.

Eartha quickly gathered her thoughts together; she could not let Germany see her like this, she had to cover her emotion.

"Yes? I am right here." she called loud enough for him to hear.

She heard him coming down the hallway, his shiny boots making satisfying clacking noises on the wood as he moved. She was just finishing rearranging her face into her unreadable mask when Germany made his way onto the expansive balcony. He stopped upon seeing her leaning against the railing looking back at him, her eyebrows raised as if she was waiting for him to speak.

"Oh, zhere you are." Germany said moving forward to stand beside her; putting his back against the cool stone guardrail. "It is cold out here."

Just as he said that, a cool breeze blew across the balcony causing Eartha to shiver involuntarily. She was used to cold temperatures, hot ones too, it was more the feeling of the wind as it danced along her skin that caused her to shiver; she always felt as if the wind was trying to tell her untold secrets as it swirled around her.

"Are you cold?" Germany asked turning to look down at her.

She looked up at his blue eyes through the lenses of her glasses. She shook her head no but as another breeze blustered across the balcony she founder herself shivering again. Silently, Germany dropped the fancy military coat he had been wearing across her shoulders. She made a move to protest but Germany just shook his head quietly, telling her to not complain then quickly returned his attention to the rustic stone face that made up his home. Why they were staring at Germany's home and not the majestic view behind them; Eartha did not know but she just went along with it.

She felt immensely awkward sitting in Germany's military jacket but with one quick glance at Germany she was relived to find he thought nothing of it. She let out a shaky breath. This was one of the many reasons she thought dressing as a boy was the best way to go, no awkwardnessaround fellow male countries. _That and after the incident you feel much safer as a man, _her mind whispered calling forth unwanted thoughts. She scrunched her eyes closed willing herself not to think about that; if she did her façade would surely slip.

"Are you tired?" Germany asked she could feel the pressure of his arms pushing against hers as he moved closer towards her.

She leapt back involuntarily, shocking Germany.

"N-no, I am fine."

A nervous slant to his face and a flickering of doubt in his eyes, goodness gracious what was she doing?

"Are you sure?"

Giving her inner thoughts away, that's what!

"Yes, yes I am sure."

She made sure the firmness rang out loud and clear through her voice.

"Now if you'll excuse me," she said stomping past Germany "I must go and make sure everything is in order for the battles that will take place in the next few days."

She had almost made it through the door before Germany's hand flattened itself over her shoulder.

"Vhat do you zhink you are doing?" he asked her harshly. "I never dismissed you."

She let herself be dragged back onto the balcony where the wind tore at her mercilessly. Anger welled up inside of her, why did she always have to live like this? Why was she always at the mercy of someone else's demands? Some days it just drove her insane!

_"Maybe you don't need to listen to them, maybe you should force them to listen to you," _a rich female voice purred inside her head.

No, no, no, no, this cannot happen and this should not be happening. _I pushed you away, _she thought furiously, _so stay away I don't want you here! _She scrunched her eyes closed and focused on the thoughts in her head. _Poland's capital is Warsaw, Mount Everest is the tallest mountain and is 8 848 metres tall and Rome fell in 476 A.D.; _her mind whirred as she summoned up random facts about the world.

"_You cannot get rid of me that easily." _the woman in her head chuckled.

_"Yes I can and I will, watch me." _Eartha thought boldly as she shattered every last one of her thoughts into thousands of tiny pieces.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes again and almost leapt with joy as Destruction's voice had disappeared. But instead of jumping around, she folded her hands into her pockets and looked up at the now very confused German.

"Vhat vas zhat all about?" he asked confused.

"Oh, um, nothing. I just had a slight headache that's all." she said pressing her hand to her head for effect.

Germany narrowed his eyes just slightly but then pulled them back open to their natural position within seconds. Most people would've missed that but Eartha didn't, she had been alongside people long enough to notice each minuscule reaction. She had gotten so good at interpreting body language she could tell what each individual reaction meant.

"Moving on," Eartha said gliding over the German's disbelief of her headache. "What is it that you need?"

Germany sighed, seeming to remember what he had come out here to say.

"I need help vith battle plans for Poland."

Eartha cocked her head to one side.

"And you need my help because….?"

She knew that the German was capable of coming up the next set of plans without her help. She watched him fidget a little and look away awkwardly, which was certainly not part of his nature. Something seriously must be up for him to be acting like this.

"I need your help making sure relations aren't strained." Germany finally said bluntly.

His eyes met hers for a second but he broke contact quickly, this tipped Eartha off knowing he felt like asking for help from her was causing him a little bit of grief. It was as if Germany wanted to be independent but didn't want to end up ruining the relations with Russia and she broke into a smile at how much of a child Germany still really was. Reaching up on her tiptoes, she ruffled a shocked Germany's hair affectionately.

"Aw, you've grown up so much!" she gushed like the mother she knew she was deep down. "Of course I will help you."

Germany relaxed visibly and did not shy away from her hair ruffling like she assumed he might. Instead, he pushed his head closer to her hand and bent down a little lower thus making sure she did not have to reach that far. Despite the fact that Eartha was dressing as a boy, she found herself blushing rather furiously at the German's display of friendliness. She was used to a bit more of a strict, sit-up-straight-and-eat-your-peas sort of Germany but today he seemed a little friendlier than usual confusing her emotions. Maybe Russia was throwing him off.

"So, should we get going?" she asked removing her hand from his hair.

Another cool gust of wind blew by and Eartha pulled Germany's coat tighter around her.

"Ja, sure." Germany replied walking around her towards the door.

Eartha turned and followed him silently to the study. She felt better than before which was a vast improvement of her usual state of being. The warring between Japan and China must have quieted down for the time being granting her a few blissful moments that did not include headaches or slight nausea, good thing too because she would never be able to live it down if Prussia pestered her about not eating again. Eartha was shocked out of her musings when a large hand dropped on her shoulder.

"It looked like you were zoning out, da?" a Russian voice asked.

"Oh, heh, yeah I guess I was." she replied sheepishly pushing the glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

She turned to face Russia who was smiling down at her with a hint of malevolence. Only she could really tell he was frustrated about something and as his hand on her shoulder started crumpling Germany's coat, which she had frankly forgotten she was wearing. It took her no time to figure out exactly what the matter was. _He's jealous, _she thought with a start, _Russia's angry I am wearing Germany's coat._ Heavens, why would he be mad at something like that? Inwardly, she shrugged. _I guess there is no arguing, _she thought to shrugging the coat off, _I would rather be a bit chilly than get Russia unintentionally mad at Germany before this whole battle planning even would start._

As she pulled the coat off, she noticed one other person in the room who had eyes of blazing rage and she did not have to look up to know who it was. When was Prussia going to give up this over protective act? He had watched out for her when they had first met, he used to teach her everything he knew about this and that and now he protected her secret but she was no little child anymore! She did not need this. Just to spite him, she ignored him completely as she brushed past him to return Germany's jacket to Germany. Germany took the jacket and absentmindedly laid it down on an empty chair, he was more preoccupied with the map in front of him.

Russia drifted over to the planning table while Prussia just glowered from the corner where he sat and it took Eartha to long to notice that the Austrian was nowhere to be seen. He must not be one for battle planning. Eartha sidled up alongside Germany to get a good look at the two fronts they would be attacking from. She cautiously traced the boarder where Poland met Germany, tuning out Germany and Russia's conversation over how to synchronize the attacks and as they bickered over little details she slowly tried to formulate a bigger picture of the battle front in her mind. She was pulled back to the real world when a silence descended around her.

"Vhat do you zhink Earth?" Germany was asking.

"Um, could you repeat the question?" she questioned blinking a couple of times.

"Vhich vay should ve stage zhe attack?" Germany asked, peering down at Eartha.

Eartha took a deep breath looking at the intricate map; this was going to be one long afternoon.

* * *

Eartha collapsed into the covers of her bed with sigh. It had taken all of the afternoon and part of the evening to finish and finalize the bare bones of the battle planning. The details would be finalized tomorrow and the battling would start within the next week; this meant everyone would be on edge and Eartha would be in a lot of pain. She wondered if Germany would make her fight in the war, it wasn't uncommon for her to join her boss country on the battle front just as any second in command would but most times her boss countries took one look at her and laughed at the sheer thought of her stepping out onto a battle field. But then there were times where countries _had_ to use her; they had nothing else. That had been the case with France, Britain, Prussia and many countries; she had fought alongside most of her boss countries at least once.

She stared at the ornate ceiling above her and removed her glasses; they were starting to pinch her forehead. Scrubbing a hand down her face, she assessed herself mentally noticing no signs of Destruction or Creation being in her mind and this made her smile. No bitter headaches as a result of them but maybe one or two because of her lack of sleep. She rolled over onto her stomach and breathed in the unfamiliar scent of her pillow; it smelled like fabric softener and some sort of fragrant soap but it also had the hint of cologne. Her blue and green eyes were just starting to drift closed when her door practically banged off its hinges.

"Mein Gott Earth!" cried a German voice.

Eartha just sagged against her pillows not wanting to get up and face the Prussian who had just stormed her room. _Maybe if I ignore him he will go away, _she thought to herself as she faked sleeping. The door closed with another bang and she felt the bed sag as Gilbert obviously sat down on the edge of it.

"Vhy are you being so stupid!?" he asked her angrily without even checking if she was awake.

She did not move and pretended she was sleeping. _Keep your breath even and don't smile at all then you will-,_ she was thinking to herself but her thought was cut off by Prussia tickling her sides.

"Oh my gosh!" she gasped leaping away from him hugging the far corner of the bed. "Don't do that Gil!"

The nickname slipped out once again but anything else she was going to say hung on her lips; Gilbert looked mad and not just the I-am-slightly-angry-in-a-comical-way mad it was more you-have-pissed-me-off-very-much mad. His eyes were alight with anger and rage making her feel small and tiny, like when you've clearly made someone bigger than you frustrated. He looked ready to throttle her.

"Vhat zhe hell is vrong vith you!?" he asked looking angrier as each seconded ticked by.

"I don't know," she replied with a frown "I feel like I should be asking you that."

He raised a pale white eyebrow skeptically.

"Are you sure about zhat? Because you've been treating me like garbage almost all day."

"And you've been acting like garbage all day."

They both looked at each other, their eyes locked in stubbornness; waiting for the other person to cave first.

"Oh is zhat so zhen? Me being _worried _about you und me trying to take care of you is considered acting like 'garbage?'" he asked fuming now.

"When did you take care of me?! You did not help me carry my luggage, you insulted my place of residence and you made light of my situation; not to mention you keep treating me oddly every time I make contact with Russia." she replied letting the anger hiss out of her.

"Mein Gott Eartha! I made light of your situation because you vanted me to, I didn't offer to carry your luggage because if I did you would've rejected Mein offer und I insulted zhat place because you deserve better zhan zhat for zhe amount of vork you do!" Gilbert said ticking off each thing with his fingers. "I am _sorry_ for trying to treat you zhe vay you seem to _vant_ me to!"

Eartha's words died on her lips as she looked at the fuming Prussian. His pale face was bright red with blush and she could almost see a vein bulging on his forehead but what she was most stunned at was his knowledge of her. He was very right, if he offered to carry the luggage she would have declined not wanting to look weak, he _had_ tried to look worried about her fainting but she had just brushed his worry off and the place she had been renting was a dump. _When did he become so observant, _her mind wondered, _before he used to be so prideful and used to boast of his awesomeness every day; now he was way more subdued._

"And what is your excuse with Russia?" she asked.

Those words tumbled off her lips before she could stop them. What was she doing asking a question like that. She didn't really care what his response was but for some reason her mouth had moved involuntarily. Prussia looked at her warily, a new sort of anger winding tightly in his eyes. He let out a small annoyed sigh before he spoke.

"I don't trust zhat guy ever since vhat happened during zhe Great Var." Gilbert replied looking annoyed.

He looked at Eartha, willing her to say that was enough but she just raised her eyebrows in response.

"Look, let's just say he did some zhings zhat really are effecting zhe future of Mein country." he continued looking furious now.

_His country? Oh right, Prussia was slowly fading away, _she thought to herself. He was now watching her as if he wanted to speak again but whatever he wanted to say was getting caught in his throat. She nodded at him, trying to nudge him into speaking his mind.

"You know Eartha, if you could maybe help Mein country a little und maybe….." he trailed off not able to look her in the eyes.

"I'd love to do that Prussia but you also know that I cannot interfere." She said as calmly as she possibly could.

She felt anxious and worried, not knowing how he was going to react. When his eyes reconnected with hers, flashing dangerously, she knew the worst was to come.

"Come on Eartha! Vhat is zhe use of you if you cannot even save one country! It is your fault I am dissolving, ja?! So you should be able to fix it!" he practically shouted at her. "You are useless."

The last sentence hit her like a slap in the face. The three words she had never expected Prussia to say.

You.

Are.

_Useless._

Those words had been hurled at her before but each time she heard them she was hurt by them. She felt tears well in the corner of her eyes; the rage that she had been slowly diffusing bubbled to the top again and raged inside of her like a wild storm. She leveled her gaze to Prussia's and clenched and unclenched her fists, feeling the pressure of anger slide its way into her mind. Prussia was now fumbling with his words realizing what he had just said and regretting it but she could care less, anger was driving her now.

"Well I am sorry, _Prussia, _that I am unable to save your pathetic excuse for a nation but you know I am not allowed to change the course of time. So if you want to whine, go find someone who cares." she retorted calmly.

"Gott Verdammt Eartha-" Prussia started to say but she cut him off swiftly.

"This conversation is over." she ordered with a menacingly calmness.

Their eyes met for a brief second and Eartha could swear lightning crackled between their gaze. She broke the connection almost a second later as she pulled her legs up to her chest and looked at the calm beige of the walls; _they _certainly did not fit with the atmosphere. She felt the Prussia sized weight move from the bed and the door opened and closed behind him with another loud bang. _He's mad at me; _she thought sadly, _he's seriously mad at me. _They had been in fights like this before, when she had been his assistant she had been very cynical and they had disagreed on many things but all of those fights were patched up with gentle smiles and shared peace offerings, Eartha doubted that any sort of peace offering could make Prussia's anger not directed towards her.

She felt hollow on the inside as she pressed her face into her knees. She was _always_ to blame for everything that happened on the Earth; an Earthquake that devastated someone's country: her fault, a lost battle that could have easily been won: her fault, a bout of foul weather that halted some grand plan: her fault. When were things not her fault! She felt the sting of white hot tears as they hissed down her face. She may be the all-powerful guardian of the Earth but deep down she was just a teenaged girl who wanted to be loved.

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**Well that chapter was full of angst…****ヽ****(****￣д￣****;)****ノ****sorry about that but I had to put some of those scenes in there for important information to be revealed. Character development I guess. (****」ﾟヘﾟ****)****」****Anyhow, I hoped you liked it! I write this for you guys who read it so let me know if you see any mistakes or something because I have a tendency to miss them! Again, to all who comment I give you big hugs! *flying hug attack*(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ**


	7. Chapter 5: Through the Nightmares

Dreams.

They made the unreal real; they created fictional realities that could either be pure pleasure or pure evil. Dreams were things nobody could explain, not even Eartha. She had lived on the planet surface since that dawn of time and she still could not understand what sort of twisted reality dreams came from. Things fabricated of the mind could never be explained.

Oh, how she wished there was a cure for nightmares. Oh, how she wished she did not have to wake up screaming scared out of her wits about something that had only ever happened inside her head. But sometimes, sometimes her mind liked to play cruel tricks on her. It would call forth past misdeeds done to her and display them on an ever rotating stand of horrors and tonight the screams on her lips were a result of such nightmares.

The sound was loud in her ears. Everything had smelled, felt and looked so real; it was as if she had relived the incident which caused it all. She found herself pulled back into the real world with a start as she shot upwards in her bed. Tears were already rushing down her cheeks in zigzag patterns as if she had been throwing herself from side to side to escape that fragmented catastrophe. She felt like throwing up and running away at the same time but instead she drew her legs close to her body and pressed her face into her knees. The tears still leaked out of her eyes and she made no effort to stop them; right now she could just be Eartha the fragile girl not Earth the supposedly tough, smart and all-knowing guardian of the Earth.

The sound of her door gliding open made her look up, scared; the past events of her nightmare to close for comfort. When the lights leapt to life with the flip of the switch Eartha buried her face back into her knees trying to block out the stinging light, not to mention she did not want her night visitor to see her like this: broken and battered.

"Earth? Vhat is vrong I heard screaming."

Germany, it was him. Why him? Of all the people she could not let see her like this he was top on the list but of course he would be the one to hear her. He was the only other person at this time of night that would still be up. Gilbert could sleep through a storm, Austria probably could not hear her over his own snoring and Russia was on a whole other floor.

"N-nothing is w-wrong, please, I a-am okay." she managed to stutter in her shaky voice.

"You don't sound okay." Germany stated and she heard his footfalls as he made his way towards her bed.

_Go away, _her mind whispered, _please just leave me be! _The bed sagged as he sat down on the edge of it and she could feel his large hands move around her shoulder.

"Come on Earth, please tell me vhat zhe matter is." he prodded gently.

"N-no, p-please just l-let me be."

Germany sighed and pulled her closer to him, setting his jaw on her head.

"You know, vhen I vas first a country I vas very scared." Germany explained. "But I vas lucky since I had Mein bruder und vithout him I don't know vhat I vould've done. He may have been a little self centered but he vas always zhere to help me get zhrough everything."

Eartha stayed silent. The tears still poured down her face as she silently gasped for air. She tried to focus on Germany's words but for some reason her fear still burned strong.

"If I am correct Earth, you grew up vithout any siblings or friends, ja?" Germany asked nudging Earth just a little.

She swallowed hard and nodded, rocking her head back and forth across her knees and Germany started stroking her back gently like one would a dog.

"Hmm, so you did not have anyone to care about you, to talk vith you or just be zhere for you, ja?"

Once again she nodded. Germany made a sound that reminded her of a harrumph and she giggled despite herself.

"Come on Earth, you can trust me. Please tell me vhat is vrong so I can help you. I am not trying to be your enemy I vant to be your friend."

Those words caused the tears to freeze on her face and the memories pulled her under.

_"Come on Eartha you can trust me." he said flashing a dazzling smile._

_She paused, thinking for minute and looked into his gentle face. The voices had warned her about something but it could not be this person, surely not this person; he was too kind and too gentle to be harmful. Plus he made her feel cared about and it was as if he was promising to be there for her for the rest of her life._

_"Sure, I trust you." she said returning the smile._

_"Shake on it?" he asked sticking out his left hand happily._

_"Sure thing." she replied taking his outstretched hand._

_His smile broadened when their hands released. He brushed his white blond hair out of his brilliant blue eyes and looked towards the slowly setting sun._

_"We should probably find somewhere to sleep for the night." he commented._

_She nodded._

_"That makes sense."_

_His blue eyes softened around the edges._

_"In the morning I will introduce you to my friend. She is very excited to meet you."_

_She shot him a playful smile._

_"I am sure she is."_

_He just threw his head back and laughed; the light of the fading sun catching in his pale blond hair lighting it up to look like a ball of flaming fire._

_"You'll like her I promise, now let's find somewhere to make camp, friend."_

_"Sure thing, friend."_

The memory dissolved in front of her eyes as quickly as snow in the sun. The grip on her knees had tightened so much so that her nails were biting into her skin calling forth blood. Trust and friendship, two things she rarely gave away and the last time she had things had ended rather badly for her. She crushed those memories with great zeal and pushed them to the darkest corners of her mind to make sure she would not find them easily again.

She took a shaky breath and slowly lifted her head up to look into Germany's clear blue eyes. Nobody, nobody in the history of the Earth, had ever seen her cry. Nervousness coursed through her as a yawning silence suspended in the air around her and Germany; did he think she was too weak looking? _Oh no, he must think I am too weak to be his assistant, maybe he is going to send me away or think worse of me!?_ This just caused another fresh wave of tears to slide their way down her face and she started to return her head to her knees. Before her head could touch her kneecaps again, Germany's hand slid under her chin and lifted it up all the while making sure his eyes locked with hers.

"Tears don't suit your face." he stated as he slowly wiped the tears away with his thumb.

She bit the corner of her lip but kept her green and blue eyes locked with Germany's ice blue ones. He thoughtfully scrubbed her face clean of the tears and also took away her fear along with them. A smile slowly twisted its way onto her lips and she felt a wave of relief pass over her, tugging away at the coiled fear that crushed her heart and stomach. As Germany's hand left the crock of her chin, she tilted her head to one side and crushed her eyes closed as she gave him a wide smile.

"Thank you Germany." she said genuinely. "No one has ever seen me like that or done anything like that for me before."

She let the rest of the sentence echo out only in her head: "because nobody ever really cares to notice my nighttime fears."

"Vell, consider zhis zhe first act of friendship ever done for you." Germany stated.

He wasn't smiling outwardly but his facial expression was softer and less serious than usual making her realize this had also put his heart at ease as well. Germany nudged her knee gently.

"Move over." he ordered softly.

"Um, okay." Eartha replied a little bit confused but she went with it.

She slipped to the other side of the large queen bed and Germany flopped down in the space she had just vacated. He was lying on his back staring up at the beige ceiling, which matched perfectly with the beige walls, and his hands were thrown behind his head in a casual manner that didn't really suit him.

"So vhat vas zhe nightmare about?" Germany questioned.

Eartha froze. She wasn't ready to share that piece of information yet.

"Well, um, I don't really want to talk about it." she answered honestly not able to look at Germany; instead she kept herself busy by tracing shapes on the walls with her fingers.

"Hmm, really?" Germany asked his weight shifting. "It is probably best if you share your nightmares, zhen zhey have less of chance to haunt you."

Eartha turn to look at him now. He was propped up on his elbow and staring directly at her and this caused a slight blush to pepper her cheeks. He was a rather attractive man who was in her room at night and now was lying on her bed, how weirder could things get!? _Calm down, _her mind cooed, _you are both "men" right? So there is nothing to be afraid of, he's just treating you as he would treat Italy or Prussia. _She released the breath she was holding.

"Okay, I will tell you only the bare bones of it but not all of it." Eartha said.

This seemed to please the German as he returned to lying on his back.

"Years ago, when I was a rather naïve person, two people took….advantage….of me." She said in a hoarse whisper all the while choking on the words. "They were awful people who I should not have trusted but being my stupid innocent self I did and they broke me in ways I didn't think someone could be broken."

The memories hissed to the surface of her mind but she quelled them with well-practiced precision; she was good at avoiding bitter memories. She shivered at her own words and drew her knees closer to her chest. Germany was looking at her with something hinting to sorrow in his eyes.

"Zhat is awful." was all he was able to say.

"Yeah, it really was. I am mostly over it now but those people still manage to haunt me to this day. I know they are still out there, lurking and waiting." Eartha breathed looking over at the window on the other side of her bed.

Behind the curtain lurked the stars and the moon that lit up the night sky. Soon they would fade away into day and the sun would bounce off these bland beige walls that surrounded her. Sometimes Eartha just wished she could fly away to the sun and into the fabric of the night and day to relish in the freedom and beauty she saw when she first arrived to this planet. That memory never left her. The void, the place she came from before and the stars and sky she passed through to touch down on this magnificent world.

"Vell, if I vhere you I vould become really strong und zhen vhen you ever see zhose people again you vould smash zhere heads in." Germany stated bluntly.

Eartha could not help but laugh at the simplistic nature off the German's logic. She broke out into a smile and looked at Germany warmly.

"Thanks for that." she said honestly. "You've really helped cheer me up."

Germany nodded and stood up.

"Don't mention it. Now please get a good night sleep, ja?" he said as he made his way for the door.

"Of course, the same goes for you." Eartha said looking at the German with serious eyes. "Don't keep planning till one in the morning; it's not good for you."

"Ja, okay." Germany sighed. "Good night Earth."

As he switched off the lights and started closing the door, Eartha piped up.

"Good night! Sweet dreams."

As the door slipped shut she noticed a hint of a smile on Germany's face. She nestled deeper under her covers mulling over the things Germany had said to her in her head. _If only he knew the truth, _she thought sadly; a sorrowful smile tugging on her lips. If she became stronger so would they. If she grew in power they would too.

It's hard to fight the enemy when they are part of you.

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**Hello peoples! ( ´▽ ' )****ﾉ****Another chapter, whoot! Sorry about the recent AWOL-ness, m(_ _)m I've been rather busy with other things…..who thought I'd ever say that! (+_+) Anyhoo, hope you enjoy this new chapter!** **( ****ﾟ▽ﾟ****) I cannot believe I have hit 600 views! *does fangirl circles* That seems like a lot to me because none of my stuff usually gets read this easily! You guys are the bestest! (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤**


	8. Chapter 6: Forgiveness

The light filtered gently through the faded green velvet curtains that adorned Eartha's window. Usually, this would herald ones awakening but Eartha had been up hours before the first rays of sun had hit her covered window. She sat at the oak desk provided in her room and was pouring over maps marking out battle plans with a classic fountain pen. Each phase of the attack plan had been marked daintily with different colors of ink and Eartha marvelled at how her fingers were stained the same colors as the map in front over her, however she had managed to avoid making finger prints on the map she did not know.

She leaned back in the hard leather chair with a sigh and felt the contours of the chair conflict with her back. Her glasses were propped on her nose and clung to it with great effort yet she made no move to push them back up not wanting to risk an ink stain on her face. She was already dressed; starched white shirt, black slacks and the usual padded jacket - her decidedly daily look. When she wasn't wearing military uniforms she dressed like any avid male business professional; it just seemed to suit her.

The knock on her door came with swift abruptness in such a way that it hinted to the knocker's identity being Germany. She shifted in her chair trying to make sure nothing was out of place. Hair slicked back perfectly: check, fringe of bangs combed slight to the left: check, shirt crisp and fresh smelling: double check.

"Come in." she called once she knew she was ready.

From her seat behind the desk, she watched the door pull open to reveal none other than Prussia. Eartha felt a ripple of a startle course through her and her eyes darted to the clock on her desk. The ticking clock announced the time as eight 'o' clock. She did a double take, eight in the morning - Prussia was never up past eleven let alone ten! He closed the door behind him and perched himself on the edge of her desk, he was careful to avoid the ink; it seemed he didn't want to suffer the disastrous fate that Eartha's fingers were suffering.

"What is it you want this early?" Eartha asked leaning forward over the desk; positioning herself so her elbows would avoid any ink.

Prussia snatched up her abandoned fountain pen off the desk and played with it between his slender fingers, his red eyes following the pen's movement.

"I zhink you are still angry at me." he replied evenly.

Eartha tensed. She had been expecting this but in her mind she had been putting off the thought of confrontation; frankly, she was very worried about the outcome.

"What makes you think that?" she asked rather stiffly.

The Prussian chuckled and smug smile lit up his face; his eyes never leaving the pen.

"You zhink you are zhe only one zhat can read people Eartha but I have been alive a long time too." he replied.

She let a sigh hiss between her lips.

"I know you are mad about your countries pending dissolution but-"

He slammed his hands down on the table, hard. The ink well rattled and threatened to spill but it didn't. Eartha stared at Gilbert unable to speak. He didn't look at her with anger but with something like anxiousness.

"Ignore vhat I said before." he ordered unable to look at her.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Vhat I said about you being useless, forget it, ja? Vhat I said vas unawesome und zhat isn't like zhe usual awesome me." he replied a slight blush spreading across his cheeks. "Vhat I mean to say is Eartha, I care about you, ja? So please don't let zhe stupid vords I say bother you, I didn't mean zhem. You are one of Mein closest friends und you actually know zhe true me unlike most others. I trust you und don't like zhat I have disrespected zhat trust by being unawesome in front of you."

Despite herself, Eartha found her eyes filling with tears.

"Oh, Gil y-you..." she started but never finished.

Gilbert practically dragged her across the desk to crush her into the largest hug she's had in ages. She gripped his uniform as she sobbed into his shirt. First she had cried in front if Germany, now she was crying in front of Gil; when would this ever stop? As she recomposed herself she tried to pull away from Gilbert but he didn't seem to want to let her go.

"Um, Gilbert can you please let me go." she said squirming against him.

Gilbert had lifted her over the desk as it seems and she was now pressed into the front of it, feeling the fancy trim of the desk biting into the backs of her legs. It wasn't particularly uncomfortable but the part that bugged her the most was the fact Gilbert wasn't letting her go.

"Hey, um, Prussia-" she started but was cut off by him.

"Call me Gil." he ordered.

She looked up at him, she was now very confused. What was the Prussian thinking?

"What do you-"

He looked down at her and cut her off once again.

"I said call me Gil, it is more awesome, kesesesesesese~."

Despite his jokey tone, he was staring at her with such intensity it made her blush furiously.

"Um, o-okay, Gil?" she stuttered still rather confused and now rather flustered.

Then he kissed her. She could have avoided it, she knew she could've but when he slowly drew himself closer to her watching her the way he did she found herself rendered unable to move. And then he ducked his head lower, removed her glasses and closed his eyes placing a tentative kiss on her lips. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She had dreamt of kissing a man she loved when she had been a younger, more naïve person but over the years she had tossed that notion aside after seeing all the relationships of the world that had failed.

She remembered watching Shakespeare's play, "Romeo and Juliet," in the Globe Theatre all those years ago and wondering how love could be as passionate as it was portrayed. It was a fool's bargain, something that was easily disrupted by other people and scoffed at by fate. England had made a comment to her, after hearing her opinion on the play, that she didn't have a romantic bone in her body but it hadn't been an insult; it had been a fact. The two of them had shared that similarity, England nor she had neither the time nor the wish for love; at least that is what she had believed for thousands of years. But now, now she was confused.

The train of thought in her brain was flying out of control and she could barely keep herself together. It was as if she was melting and Gilbert was to blame. He was pulling her against him and she was letting him. _Should I be letting him? Do I even love him this way? _Her mind was now unfrozen, kicking into overdrive trying to make sense of this new emotion. _Was this love? _He was now desperately kissing her and she surprised herself by kissing back. Everything was moving too fast, _he _was moving too fast and she wasn't given anytime to process things. Summoning up the last of her courage, she pushed Gilbert away from her and stumbled backwards gripping onto desk behind her as if it was her rock.

She crushed the palm of her hands into her lips and instead of looking at Gilbert; she looked at the curtain blanketed windows to her left. For some reason, tears were returning to the corners of her eyes and she couldn't stop them from spilling over. _My reaction to all of this, why is it pain? Aren't you supposed to be happy when someone kisses you? _She felt a cold sense of regret climbing up her chest and she could no longer look Gilbert in the eyes, feeling guilty of something. It felt as if he had just unloaded the immense pressure of his emotions on her shoulders and that scared her; she wasn't ready for something like this and she knew it. She felt anxious and skittish around him now; it was as if the brother and sister comradery they had shared was now falling down around her.

Maybe he _never _loved her like a sister as she had thought; maybe he had truly loved her like a lover would but always kept his true desires hidden. Her mind began second guessing every moment they had ever spent together, replaying moments in a different light, warping memories from long ago. She didn't want to deal with this right now, she wanted to run away and leave it all behind. One problem cleared and another rises to take the old one's place. Part of her craved the love he gave her, relishing the feeling of being valued, but the other half of her desired to be no part of his romantic affections, feeling that this would only end in heartbreak. She loved him like a brother, not a lover.

"Eartha I…" he said breaking the bout of silence that had been plaguing the air around them.

She sucked a breath and summing up all the courage she held, she looked up at him.

"Gil…." she said choking on the words. "I-I love you but n-not like…that."

Sadness creased her forehead as her eyebrows dipped upwards feeling bad for having to utter those words to him but it was the truth and sometimes the truth could be hard to swallow. She watched his reaction tentatively. She didn't want to hurt him, neither did she want to lie to him and her heart felt split. He titled his head as he watched her with his gentle red eyes and a small smile touched his lips.

"Ja, I understand." he said wearing a pained smile. "I figured it vas zhat vay between us, I just….couldn't help myself I guess."

Deep in her heart, she felt the heaviness lift off her shoulders. He wasn't angry at her, far from it, he figured it would be this way between them and accepted her plea for friendship. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth and she broke into a wide grin. With small steps, she pulled herself closer to Gilbert and enveloped him in a warm hug. Gilbert gently put his arms around her and hugged her tightly like he used to; then, to Eartha's surprise, he lifted her off her feet and twirled her around wildly. This prompted laughter to spill out of her mouth lighting up the quiet corners of her room.

"Kesesesese~ Mein awesomeness knows no boundaries." Gilbert stated when he finally righted her again.

"Da, I guess you are right!" she said wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"But Eartha remember," he said becoming serious "Ich liebe dich und if you ever feel ready to return Mein affections….I vill always take you vith open arms."

He stared into her eyes with earnest caring making her blush furiously but she managed to hold his gaze.

"Gracias Gil, you are very close to me unlike many countries I have met in my life. You mean a lot to me."

"Ja, you just are hoping Mein awesomeness vill rub off on you!"

They pulled apart and were now both grinning like idiots. If anything the surprise kiss had drawn their relationship closer when Eartha had feared it may have driven them apart. She turned to look at the map that she had been working on and found it looking still immaculate. Gilbert came and stood by her left, scanning over the map with keen eyes.

"It looks finished." he stated.

"Yeah I think it is." she confirmed while rolling it up. "I should go give it to Germany."

"Ja, but first zhings first." Gilbert said.

She tilted her head to one side.

"What could come before my duties?"

Gilbert gave her a mischievous smile.

"First, ve have to go vake Vest up."

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**Bonjour my reader-chans! (*＾▽＾)／****Pardon le lateness of this chapter, I did major edits on this story recently setting me behind on my usual upload schedule.** **(****；￣Д￣）**** If I were you, I would go back and re-read chapter four….I changed some major things in there because I had been notified by a friend that some of my historical data had been off. (/****ﾟДﾟ****)/ Thanks to her though I managed to fix it (I think) and I also tried to alter Prussia's personality, I think I may be making him OOC sometimes but I fixed it the best I could! (•̀ᴗ•́)****و**** ̑̑ This chapter was a bit hard to write to begin with since I am not to amazing a romance ….yeah I know right, a fanfiction writer who cannot write an amazing romance****（￣□￣；）****….ironic. Anyhow, I hope I did this some sort of justice and managed to peg Gil and Earth's relationship. But either way, thanks for reading you guys! You always making me happy when I see you've checked out my story! (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ***


	9. Chapter 7: Training

Earth crept into the sleeping German's room with all the stealth she could muster. She couldn't believe Gilbert had dropped this task on her and then ran, he claimed he had to make tea for Austria before the snappy country killed him or something overdramatic as such. Of course, he had used the excuse that it was _she _who had wanted to speak to him not him, so it made the most sense for her to be the one waking the sleeping German up.

It was an odd thing, waking Germany up. Usually, he was the one waking everybody else up. He would be up at the crack of dawn marching around the house preparing things for the day ahead, but recently, he had been burning the candle at both ends. He would stay up until one working on plans and then wake up at six to prepare training drills for Italy and him. She assumed he thought no one noticed him wearing himself ragged, but she had noticed a slip in his efficiency and focus. If he let himself slide any further, this attack on Poland could ending up exhausting all his energy.

Light spilled out between the cracks in the curtains that covered the windows in the room sending scraps of light across the immaculate room. Eartha felt as if she had just walked into a museum, she was afraid to touch anything worrying the smallest of finger prints would be considered a mess. Germany's room was rather large, it was like a mini library really and she had to resist the urge to thumb through his massive collection of books. The titles all spoke to war history, military strategies, history of the Germanic countries or were atlas's of sorts.

Eartha weaved through the rows of towering bookshelves until she reached the part of Germany's room where he slept. She found the mahogany four poster bed vacant and to her surprise, Germany was fast asleep while sitting behind his desk. His hair was tousled and he snored softly as his face crushed the pages of a war strategy book. A little laugh slipped between her lips as she looked down at the dozing country, he looked so peaceful at sleep. It was as if his sleeping persona was the exact opposite of his daytime persona.

Putting down the rolled up map of battle plans she had finished this morning, she slid into a green, hard backed leather chair that was facing Germany's desk and propped her elbows on the edge of the wooden table top. With a small smile, she watched the rhythmic falling and rising of his chest. Using careful precision, she slid the book out from underneath his head and flattened the folded pages gently all the while reading what the book had to say. She found the new age battle tactics these days very odd, speed and efficiency were key in every battle and she found some of the planning was done very sloppily.

She let out a snort as she flipped through the pages of the book, who wrote this stuff? Whoever they were they needed to work on their understanding of war strategy. With an indignant huff, she snapped the book closed and managed to wake up a sleeping Germany. His pistol was pointed at her head so fast she barely had a second to react.

"Ludwig!" she blurted, his human name escaping her lips.

_Damn, _she cursed in her head, _I don't like using human names on my boss country. _She had referred to countries by their real names in the past but as she had grown, many countries had found her using their real names offensive. As a child you could get away with anything as long as you looked or sounded cute enough, she guessed. Pursing her lips, she waited for a rebuke.

Nervously, she watched the mist of sleep fall out of his eyes and he realized what he was doing. He dropped the shiny black gun like it was scalding hot and looked away from her while he scrubbed a hand up and down his face.

"I am sorry, Earth. You startled me, zhat is all." he stated, looking over at her.

"It is okay, sorry I called you Ludwig." she mumbled looking down at the book she clenched in her hands.

Germany's tired blue eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Vhy ever vould zhat be? Vhat is vrong vith calling my by Mein human name?" he asked tilting his head slightly as he fixed his hair.

She watched him with wide eyes as he grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. He didn't mind?!

"Y-you don't mind if I call you Ludwig?" she asked stuttering in the slightest.

"Vhy vould I?" he questioned.

"Oh, it's just other countries get pissed at me when I refer to them by their real names."

She frowned down at the book in her hands.

"Hmm, vell I don't find you calling me zhat frustrating." he replied absent mindedly as he glanced over at the clock. "Verdammt! Is zhat really zhe time?!"

"Ja, you slept in." she commented looking over at a now startled Germany. "Oh by the way, here are your battle plans. The blue ink is your forces and the red ink is Russia's, the black is the supposed Polish forces you might meet."

She handed him the neatly rolled up map that had been sitting by her feet. Germany took it from her ink colored fingers, looking at them curiously; he frowned at her slightly before unrolling the map. His eyes widened at the amount of detail the plans had been drawn up in. He glanced over at her.

"How long did it take you to do zhis?" he asked.

She fiddled the edges of the war strategy book for a few seconds before replying.

"Hmm, about two hours, why?" she asked curiously.

He blanched at the speed.

"Vhat!? Zhat quick? How?" he questioned.

"Well I know the lay of the land so I didn't have to do _that _much research, plus one of my main purposes is to write up war plans."

"But still….zhis vould take my men a day at least."

"Hmm."

She replied absentmindedly. She didn't like when others praised skills she was just born with, it wasn't because she loved writing battle plans so much that she had the ability to make such effective strategies so quickly. Oh no, she actually wished she had other skills other than the ones she had been given, like the ability to have a normal conversation or the ability to make friends. The slamming of doors pulled Eartha back down to reality.

"_Otets, _you are in here, da?" Russia called as she heard him picking his way through Germany's room.

Eartha glanced at Germany, who just sighed and placed the map on his desk.

"Yes I am here!" she called to the Russian.

She heard his footsteps pick up pace as he walked quickly towards her voice. Soon, the towering form of Russia came fully into view as he made a beeline for both Germany and Eartha. His scarf flapping behind him as he ran; a deadly smile on his face and his bizarre cane made out of the plumbing in his hand. Without even a nod in Germany's direction, Russia breezed over to Eartha; it was as if he was acting that the German didn't even exist. He was frustrated about something that was for sure.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a cold smile.

"Oh, I had to wake up Germany, he slept in." Eartha replied pushing the glasses up her face and setting the war strategy book on the desk slowly.

Russia then looked over at Germany, it was then he seemed to acknowledge the German's presence. He tilted his head to one side and broadened his sugar coated smile.

"We have training today, da?" he asked.

"Ja, ve do! Pardon my lateness." Germany replied with a sigh. "I shall now excuse myself to get prepared for zhat."

Germany nodded at both Russia and Eartha in turn before he swept out of the room, his coat jacket thrown over his shoulder casually. Eartha watched his figure disappear behind the rows of books before she stood up to face the still smiling Russian.

"Why did you do that?" she asked with impatience.

"Do what?" Russia questioned, refusing to answer her question.

"Ignore Germany like that." she sighed crossing her arms over her chest.

"_Nyet, _I wasn't ignoring him!"

"Yes you were."

"_Nyet!_"

Instead of continuing the childish argument, she just raised her eyebrows at him putting on her intimidating mask. She used her intimidating stance on young countries that disobeyed her and Russia had been at the brunt of said glare many of times before. Despite him being older and taller, he still fidgeted under her gaze.

"Fine, I was mad he kept us all waiting." he sighed.

She let out a huff as she let her arms drop to her sides.

"D'accord, I cannot fault your for that but please just handle your emotions better, ja?" she pleaded reaching up to put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Of course!"

She nodded at his response, pleased.

"Now, you better be off. Training should probably be starting soon."

"About that, _otets_! You are joining, da?"

"_Nyet._ I doubt Germany is even taking me into battle."

She shook her head a little bit sadly, she disliked battle fronts but sometimes she felt most at home on them. One thing that remained constant through history was the mortals love to churn up war, so most of her life had been filled with bitter battles. War was like her parent and one of the only things she felt a tangible connection to.

"Oh, are you sure? Because I heard him mention you would be joining our training."

Russia looked at her with a small crease in his brow.

"What?" she questioned confused but after a moment of thinking she brushed the idea of being a military general off. "I highly doubt it, you probably heard wrong."

She made an attempt to leave but as she pushed past Russia he caught her arm in his vice like grip.

"But you would enjoy a good work out, da? I see you go for your early morning runs."

She flushed.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

She pushed her glasses up her nose trying to act as nonchalant as possible.

"Oh, then who did I see earlier running by with glasses like yours wearing a white tank top and-"

With all the speed in the world, she pressed her free hand to his lips.

"How did you see me? I chose the most obscure routes possible." she hissed slowly removing her hand.

Russia just smiled.

"I have a liking for obscure places."

_Right,_ Eartha thought in her head, _of course you do, because you totally weren't snooping! _Her mouth formed a grim line, of course Russia was snooping around the German's house, probably looking for battle plans or secrets, anything useful to bring down such a growing threat. Some days, she wished she could express the villainous deeds countries did to their allies but every time she had to hold her tongue, such truths could send everything built crashing down. She let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine, I will join you." she agreed. "Now just let me get changed."

Russia released her arm and with a genuine smile he nodded at her.

"Da, I will see you out on the field." he said as he left her alone in Germany's room.

She let out a sigh and put a hand to her forehead. Today was going to be another long day as it seemed.

* * *

"Why I am doing this." she muttered as she joined Germany, Prussia, Russia and what must be Italy on the field that they used to train.

Why ever did she agree to Russia's invitation? Noticing at the look of surprise on Prussia's face, she obviously wasn't expected.

"Earth, is that-a you?" Italy chimed as she made her way over to the group of them.

"Yup, it sure is." she said with a forced smile on her lips.

"Ciao amico, I haven't seen-a you in forever!"

With that said, the Italian promptly tackled her with a large hug; in which, despite her superior speed and great dodging skill, she couldn't avoid. She stumbled backwards as the wind was sucked from her lungs; how she managed to stay upright, she didn't know.

"I remember you when-a you were friends with Grandpa Rome! Then-a I used to see you when-a you worked alongside Mister Austria but then-a you had to go help Prussia!" Italy gushed in her ear with his rather high pitched voice.

Eartha's bad mood melted under the Italian's innocent friendliness. She started to laugh in earnest.

"Oh, Italy you have barely changed! Personality wise, I mean!" she pulled away from the hug and held him at arm's length, he was bouncing excitedly. "But my you have grown and finally found your way into men's clothes! I was wondering when you'd out grow your dresses!"

"Si, I have grown up much, haven't I!" he exclaimed happily.

"Ahem," Germany said breaking the reunion up "I hate to intrude, but ve have training to do, so Earth if you vant to join us…."

Eartha didn't need him to finish his statement to know what he meant. _Join but don't disturb others, _she thought to herself, _classic Germany rules._ She stood in line between Italy and Prussia as Germany went on a tangent about being strong and in good health. These were all things she had heard before, so her focus slid off Germany's rant but onto other things. Like, was she cooking tonight or was Germany? When did Italy get so much taller and how can he still be so cheerful? When Germany started shouting orders to do push ups, it took Eartha a minute to process the information she was being given. Her brain snapping back into reality caused her to fumble for mental instructions, so when she touched the ground she did something she would usually be able to avoid.

On the exact moment her hand touched the ground, she felt her connection to the Earth leap to life. _Damn, _she cursed in her head as she scrambled to keep her wits together. She hadn't been able to get her daily dose of Earth power this morning, despite that fact she managed to go on a run. Accidently, she had ran too far and had been forced to hurry back to finish the battle plans she had promised Germany. Now, her body wanted to shift so badly it was causing her vision to blur. _No, no, no, _she ordered her body, _don't give in, and fight it._

_"Fighting your own instincts again I see."_

_Shut up Creation, _she snapped tiredly.

She didn't have time for _him_ to weasel his way into her head. Creation and Destruction hadn't been visiting her regularly, to her luck, but now as it seemed her luck had ran out and at the most unfortunate time. She listened as Creation's rich chuckle filled the spaces of her mind.

_"I can help stop the shift you know." _ he purred. _"Just let me in."_

Eartha shivered, it was as if his ghostly hands were trailing down her arms. She sucked in a sharp breath as pain wracked her. Her body was fighting her will. Trying to focus on her push ups, she scrunched her eyes closed. She was so focused she almost didn't notice German's call to start jogging and she stuttered upwards hoping she could stop the shift by breaking the connection with the Earth. Breaking ahead of the others, she ran at a slightly fast pace and to her dismay the pain continued to attack her body.

_"You need my help if you are going to fight this; you aren't as powerful as you used to be, right?" _Creation pressed. _"Come on, let me help."_

_No, _she screamed in her head but she couldn't control it any longer.

She couldn't turn into Mother Earth here, not in front of everyone; yet, she couldn't let Creation assume control. If he went too far she could shift into him and reveal yet another well buried secret! Her resolve caved as she felt the pain lance through her heart almost forcing her to stop.

_Help me, _she whispered in her mind.

_"My pleasure." _Creation cooed.

And she felt her consciousness spiral away into blackness as he took control.

* * *

**And there you have it! Chapter seven in all its glory! (****ﾉ´ヮ´)****ﾉ*:****･ﾟ****✧ Sorry about my hiatus….school began and my life got hectic! (ﾉ￣д￣)ﾉ ****How can one get fourteen art requests on dA in three days! HOW! ?** **( ****ಠ ****ಠ ) Either way, I pulled it together to make this chapter!** **⊂((****・▽・))****⊃ Hope it doesn't suck. (-_****＼) Well that is all from me for now! Ciao~ ( ****ﾟ▽ﾟ)/**


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